Adoption - Not for the faint of heart.

Many of you have already heard about our very disappointing news. Two of our boys, Christian & Henry, have been moved to a foster home. This makes them unavailable for international adoption. It was ultimately their decision, but what upset us the most is that we nor our lawyer where notified that this option was being offered to the boys. They made this very important decision without any input from us. What made this option so attractive to them is that it's the foster home where their sister, Leana, lives. We didn't get to explain to them that we have also been working on adopting their sister. We made no headway over the summer to have contact with her, so we moved forward on the 3 boys with plans to meet Leana while we're in Ukraine. We feel like they would have made a different decision, possibly, if they would have had this information. All we can do is trust that this is all part of God's plan and there is a reason Christian & Henry weren't meant to be part of our family at this time. It's so hard though. We have loved these boys over a year and already thought of them as our sons. It feels like our children have been taken from us. We know it will take time to heal and accept this situation, but these boys will always have a part of hearts.

Good news is that Daniel is definitely coming! He is very excited that we will be there soon and is telling everyone "No Oleg. Daniel Holliday!" We can hardly wait to bring him home and meet our family and friends!

We think this may be a good time to tell you all about another sweet boy that stole our hearts last December. His name is Vova, or Bobo as my dad calls him. He is 9 and just the most precious boy you'll ever meet. We felt very attached to him while he was here. He would call Bill & I "Mama" and "Papa". I don't know if its b/c we were the 1st houseparents when he arrived & spent lots of time with him throughout their visit or if maybe he already knew something we hadn't figured out yet. We knew we were already in the process of adopting 3 boys and were in no position to be considering another, so we just decided to wait & maybe adopt him later on. We had thought about maybe next year if he was still available. We have had friends adopting from his orphanage and he has told them to tell us "Hi" and we've sent him a photo album. So there's been a little communication between us, but nothing like what we had with our 3 boys. We didn't want to discuss adoption with him until we had a better idea of when. It wouldn't be fair. We still haven't discussed it with him, but we have made several inquiries to get information about him. Someone we spoke with, we have since found out, told him that there's a family in America that wants to adopt him. I'm sure he suspects its us b/c we've sent him messages through friends and the photo album. Our friends that are their currently have been able to visit with him often and he's told them all about how an American family is coming to get him, but he doesn't know when. Awww. So at least we know he's open to the idea.

Our "Bobo"

We know we will be traveling to Ukraine sometime early December. We have been trying to decide if we should go forward with adopting Vova while we're there since we're already approved for more than 1 child & we'd already be there. The issue is that he's in another region from Daniel and that really complicates the adoption process. Adding to the complications is "when" we're going. The Ukrainian government all but shuts down in January for Orthodox Christmas. There is no way to foresee how long it could take to complete both adoptions. We had friends this summer who adopted from the same 2 regions and there's took about 3-4 months! We just can't be gone like that. I think we're just going to play it by ear. If things are going unusually quick with Daniel's process, we may consider going forward with Vova. If things are going slowly, which seems to be the norm in Ukraine, we will just have to make another trip next year. We will continue to pray for God's will in this, but we're feeling more & more that He is moving us toward adding Vova to our family.

The time is growing near for us to leave for Ukraine. We have all the funds for the adoption costs and travel, but we're still in dire need of funds for our 30-45 day stay. We'll have to rent an apartment, pay for food, and the costs for transportation while in Ukraine. We have a donation button on the top right corner of our home page, but you can also send tax deductible donations on our behalf to Manifold Mercies. Make checks payable to Manifold Mercies and mail to: Manifold Mercies, P.O. Box 237, Kellyton, Al 35089. Put "Holliday Family" on the outside of your envelope to ensure the donation is set aside for our adoption. If you don't like snail mail or checks, you can visit their website www.manifoldmercies.org and click on the "donate" button. If you make a donation online, just let us know so we can notify Manifold Mercies and let them know its for our adoption.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and emotional & financial support. We could have never done this without all your help!

Love,
The Holliday's
Bill, Kim, Hope, & Hayden

So close, yet so far away

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. 

Fight for the rights of widows.

Isaiah 1:17

I know God's timing is perfect. I know it in my head and in my heart, but it does not always make the waiting any easier. Some days my heart aches so bad to see our boys that I don't think I will make it through the day. Other days I try to stay busy working on the dossier, their bedroom, painting something for them, etc...It seems to make me feel close to them-like they are here with me. I was thinking the other day-it will be one year on September 2nd from the first time we met Daniel and Christian. On September 9th it will be one year since we touched them last. That made me sad, but also thankful that we met them, that they will soon be with us forever, and really amazed at how fast a year goes by.

Here are 2 paintings I've done for their room.

 

It gets hard answering the "So, when are yall going?" question. We don't know. Every time we think all the paperwork is ready and we have an idea of when we'll be going, something else comes up & the dossier is still not sent to Ukraine. It is very challenging being so close to ready, but still feeling so far from it actually  happening.

It's amazing though, (why I am even surprised by this I don't know) God always shows up with something to sustain us when we feel like we can take no more. While Daniel was at camp, we had friends there too. They kept us supplied with photos and even let us skype with him one day. Also, his phone had service in the town they were in, so we could continue to text him and call. We really enjoyed talking to Daniel one-on-one, him not having to share the phone with his two more talkative brothers. We feel like we got some great bonding and communication done during this time having him all to ourselves. But having him alone meant not having the other 2 to talk to.

Christian and Henry had gone to Italy for the summer. We had no way of contacting them or even knowing exactly where they were. We did good over the 1st weeks, but as it neared a month without contact we (and by WE I mean mostly ME)  began to lose it: crying a lot and being sad. Then, out of no where, Bill gets a friend request from a lady in Italy on Facebook. He almost didn't accept it, but I reminded him the boys are in Italy.  Her name Valentina and she's awesome. She said Vlady (Henry) has stayed with her family for the last 3 summers. We have been talking on FB & skyping all week. All I needed was to see that sweet face and I'm back on cloud 9! Now if I can just find Christian! He left Italy on July 27th. I checked with Daniel and he said he's not at the orphanage, he's gone to visit someone in Kiev. I know his sister lives in Kiev, but I can't imagine he would be with her and not Henry too. Hopefully I will be able to talk to him again soon.

Danial at camp with "his baby" Nastia.

 

 

 

Daniel with our friend Rachael Vogel at Camp.

Henry in Italy sitting a Ferrari!

Henry with a Lamborghini!

Thank you everyone for all your support and your prayers. We are so close, yet so far from being there. Please continue to hold our family up in prayer, that we will continue to fight the good fight, and follow this dream to its wonderful end.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7

Welcome home Anastasia!

Because we had been doing the yard sale all day Saturday, we never had time to get on FB. You can imagine our surprise Saturday evening when we discovered that Julie & Anastasia would be flying into B'ham Sunday evening at 6:25 instead of Thursday as previously planned. So we drove to the airport yesterday afternoon to make sure they received a warm welcome. After 2 hrs. of delays, they finally arrived around 8:15 last night! It was so surreal. We've talked to them on skype, we've been with them as they have planned for this, and we were there to send them off at the airport when they left for Ukraine. It still didn't seem real though, until we held Anastasia once again in our arms last night. She's here, her forever home!

It's not a proper homecoming with out signs!

Here they come!

1st hugs!

New family!

We are so glad to have her back in Alabama!

It was an awesome evening! So glad she is finally here and we are looking forward to welcoming Oleg home in a few weeks. David will fly back to Ukraine Sunday, June 10. Oleg's 10 day waiting period will be up and it will just be a matter of applying for his passport and visa and they can bring him home. Keep the Sanchez family in your prayers.

There are constantly more applications fees and unexpected expenses as we go through this journey we call adoption. We appreciate any donations to help defer those costs. We've added a "donate now" button to our blog page so you can make a donation online through Google Check-Out or you can mail donations to:

Bill & Kim Holliday

Holliday Family Adoption Fund

3132 Fitzgerald Rd.

Montgomery, AL 36106

Thank you so much for all your prayers, love, and financial support!

Home Study-On Our Way Now!

Things are really starting to move quickly now! Its kind of scary, but exciting at the same time. We have our 2nd appt. with the social worker today for our home study. We LOVE our social worker, Sherry, she's just awesome. She is very excited for us us and supportive. The dossier is coming together. Waiting on all our clearances to come back and hopefully we will be able to get all paperwork sent to Ukraine soon.
We have been talking with the boys at least 2-3 times a week. They're really picking up on English and that's just over the phone, I think they will learn very fast once they're with us full-time. I got my 1st "I love you" yesterday from Henry/Vlad. Melts my heart! I get to hear it from Christian/Artem a lot (if there isn't too many other boys around), but that could be because he's a phone hog. Daniel/Oleg is going through a shy stage and doesn't usually talk much on the phone-again this also could be because Christian/Artem is a phone hog. Bill & Hayden were here Monday and were able to talk with them. Because of the 8 hr. time difference, I have to call around 12-12:30 in the afternoon when Bill & Hayden are at work and school. It was a great phone call Monday! The boys shared the phone well and I think Daniel/Oleg talked more than he ever has.

We have 3 sets of friends in Ukraine right now. The Sanchez's have completed their adoptions and the Lawry's and Decker's are in the beginning of theirs. The Sanchez's were at our boys' orphanage yesterday and got this photo.

L-R: Anastasia Sanchez, girl at orphanage, Julie Sanchez, Tanya, Oleg Sanchez, Henry/Vlad, Christian/Artem, & Andre

I'm not sure where our Oleg was, but Julie couldn't find him for photo. He was probably playing soccer somewhere! I miss them so bad, but its good to see they're doing well.

We will be having a yard sale Saturday to raise funds. We are trying to decide if we're having it here or get a booth at Crampton Bowl. There is a chance of rain Saturday, so it may be nice to be indoors somewhere. I just have no idea how we'd get everything there! We will just watch weather I guess. I will let everyone know before Saturday where we will be set up.

Again, we would like to thank everyone for their support, prayers, and encouragement. This is an amazing journey and we are so blessed to have so many friends and family traveling this road with us.

Paper work, paper work, Paper work!

So sorry its been a while with out a post. We spent every spare moment we could with Vlad. He is absolutely adorable and we are totally in love with him and he with us. We got to spend a lot of quality time with him and that was awesome. It is so cool to see the photos of us the 1st day or so when he would hardly touch us (just smiled @ us a lot) to the photos make toward the end where he's hanging all over us.

Funny story: The night before they were to go back, they had a big Ukrainian dinner and all the house parents, volunteers, and prospective adoptive parents came. There was a big bonfire after dinner and all the kids were running around, having a great time. Vlad went and got Valery, our adoption coordinator from Ukraine, and told him he had something to tell me. Vlad told Valery that he had been thinking about something for a long while and he wanted to know when he comes to live here...can his name be Henry? I about fell out! Henry, really? With all the American names out there, what made him pick Henry? What made it even more a "God" moment was that earlier that same day I had talked to Bill about names. We had been planning to name him Jackson Vlad and call him Jack after my dad. I had talked to Bill though b/c after meeting Vlad, he just didn't seem like a Jack to me. Well, its b/c he's not supposed to Jack, he will be Henry Holliday! We love referring to him as Henry now!

Henry Holliday

At bedtime the night before Vlad/Henry had broke down, wrapped his arms around Hope and just cried & said "My sister." Then he did the same to Hayden. I made him a pallet on the floor next to his bed. I had promised that on the night before he had to leave the girls could sleep in his room. The girls laid in his bed, he got onto his pallet on the floor, and I tucked him in for the last time for a long while. Part of me was so happy that we got to have this time with him, but the other part of me hated it b/c I had to let him go back. The only solace I have is that I know Victoria, the orphanage director, and I know she loves the kids in her orphanage and he will be well taken care of until we get there to get him permanently.

Victoria

It was a very long ride to Atlanta, but the kids seemed in good spirits. That was until they could tell that we were getting close to the airport. Things turned somber then. I think the only thing that helped was the rush to get the baggage unloaded and get to the check in on time. Everyone was checked in and we made the walk over to security to say our good byes. It killed me to see him cry and we all got as many hugs as we could squeeze in before they were rushed through the line. On the other side of the 1st check, the kids could come over to the rope and we got in a few more hugs. Vlad/Henry asked Valery to translate something for him. He said to tell us "Thank you for everything you did for me while I was here." Then he broke down crying, gave us all one last hug, and walked on through security. He wouldn't look back at us anymore after that. I think it was just too hard. One of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.

Hopefully the time will fly by and we will be going to Ukraine before we know it. We took our friends David and Julie Sanchez to the airport Sunday. They will be bringing back "Smiley" Oleg (the 1st boy I loved from Ukraine) and Nastya. They hope to be returning sometime mid to end of May. When we were at the airport, I had butterflies in my stomach! Can't imagine what it will be like when its our turn!

Oleg

Nastya

Well, we just thought we had filled out our share of paper work! We still have forms to fill out for home study and now a stack from Valery for Ukraine. Its all worth it though! I will fill out whatever is necessary to get these boys home!

Meeting Vlad!

Greatest surprise in my life @ 1:30am Saturday morning, when arriving with the new group of Ukrainian orphans was "our" Vlad! We were told he might be coming, but then no one could verify & he was listed on roster with his full name (Vlad) is his nickname, so we thought he wasn't coming. He made me a bear himself and gave it to me & I totally lost it. After just 3 days with him, we're totally in love!

Fishing @ The Waters. Notice that's Hayden's bag he has. It's so funny because his brother, Artem, also loved carrying Hayden's bad around!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the bear he made me.

With his 2 sisters

 We are enjoying as much time as we possibly can with this sweet boy before he has to go back. The boys received the photo album we sent them for Christmas, so Vlad recognized us right away & his face just lit up. He loves saying his sisters' names. He'll just come up behind them & say "Holp" (that's how he says it) & "Heyden", its precious. We are trying very hard not to spoil him, but its very hard! We are so glad to finally meet him, but already dreading the day he leaves!

New Fund Raiser!

We are selling raffle tickets to help raise money for our adoption costs. Tickets are $15 or 2 for $25. You will have a chance of winning your choice of an iPad 2, xBox 360/250GB with kinect, or a $500 gift card. We will have them with us at church, so please purchase some if you can! The drawing will be held on May 5th. We are at a crucial stage of our adoption process where lost of costs are involved. We've already gotten our passports, but now its time for the home study & immigration paperwork. Please keep us in your prayers, that God will be faithful to provide the funds we need to bring these boys home. Pass the word around to your co-workers, friends, neighbors, & Sunday school classes! Thank you for all your support!

The Journey Officially Begins!

Our social worker came by Tuesday and the meeting went very well. We have tons of paper work to fill out, but it will be soooo worth it! Once we get the initial paper work filled out and turned in, we'll have to pay half of the home study fees and the "home study" officially begins. YeeHaw! We are so excited, just one more step closer to getting our boys here with us.
We went to our 1st adoption support group meeting last night at church. Between that and the books I've been reading-lets just say I'm feeling a little anxious. I mean we know that there will be adjustments, but there are so many ways children who are adopted can act out. The process of adoption is overall a happy occasion for the the family adopting and the kids being adopted; but people don't realize its also a time of great loss and grief for the adopted children. They will be losing their last hopes of ever reuniting with their birth parents, they're leaving the life they have become accustomed to at the orphanage, and they will be moving somewhere where almost no one speaks their language. There will be the happiness of new beginnings and the sadness of the end of their previous life. Please pray we will be able to navigate this transition with our boys and they will adjust well.
I am about to bust! I am so excited that we are getting close to making this a reality and then I'm so scared that we're getting so close to this being a reality.
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of  power"        2 Timothy 1:7

I love modern technology!

Skype still amazes me. We were able to talk with the boys on skype a while back with video so we could see them. The orphange has been having computer problems since then so we haven't been able to do it in a long while. Thanks to our friend, Julie Sanchez, we were able to call the boys today. Julie and her husband got their Oleg a cell phone and using skype, you can call. You don't get the video, but you can have a conversation. The cool thing with skype is you can do this 3-way so we had the translator & the boys on @ the same time! We were able to talk through the translator and it was awesome!

I had been struggling about what to say. I wanted to ask if they still want us, but how do you ask that? We're about to start our paperwork next week & we need to know that they still want to come. I didn't have to worry long because one of the 1st things Artem asked was if we had started the paperwork! I told him the social worker comes Tuesday and we'll hopefully be coming to Ukraine in a few months. I asked him if he was sure he still wanted to come and be part of our family. His answer "Of course!" He also wanted to know about his brother Vlad and I told him we are planning on adopting him too. That news was met with squeals and celebration as Artem shared the news with his brother. Next we talked to Oleg and I asked him also if he was sure he still wants to come and he answered "Da!" which is yes in Russian. I told them we just wanted to make sure since the process is really about to get up and going. We talked a little more, told them we sent them a photo album with pictures of us, them, our house, and their new room. Larrisa hasn't been by the orphanage yet to deliver it, but I told them its coming. We talked for about 20-30 minutes, but then the connection got bad & we had to get off.

It was awesome! They still want us! We're here working hard to get them here and thinking about them all the time, but sometimes we worry that they will forget about us. It didn't hit me until we got off the phone with them today...They may be worrying that we've forgotten about them! We know what all we're doing here, but they have barely gotten to hear from us since they left in September. Its got to be much worse for them. We are going to try and get a phone to them so we can call and text often. I'm so glad we were able to talk today and now we all feel so much better. They know we're working to get them here and we know they still want to come! 

T-Shirts for sale!

Front

Back

White shirt

Thanks to Toni Doss and her mom, Kaye Porter, who have allowed us to use their logo on t-shirts for fundraising. 

Toni has taken a couple of the white ones to tie-dye. I'll post pictures of those when she finishes. Shirts are 50/50 blend so they shouldn't shrink. The white shirts are $15, the black $20, & the tie-dyed will be $25.We can get youth sizes and adult sizes up to 3X. 

Long overdue post!

Sorry its been so long without an update. It has been a wild and wonderful holiday season! We were blessed to be the 1st set of house parents for the group of 9 orphans visiting Bridgestone this month. They flew into Atlanta Airport around 8pm Tuesday, December 20. They didn't make it to Bridgestone til about 1:30am. When we arrived at the Millbrook YMCA at 6pm on Wednesday, December 21 to meet them, one was already totally asleep and the others were extremely tired. It was quite different from our 1st experience as house parents, very sedate. And this group has girls and boys! I didn't realize how much difference that would make. The kids range from 8-15 yo.
After bible study at the Y we returned to Bridgestone. It was probably around 8pm. The little boy who was sleeping when we 1st arrived continued sleeping through dinner, bible study, & the ride back to the house. We put him to bed, went and set up our room, & when we returned to the main room there were NO kids! Everyone of them had gone straight to bed! So here we are, all excited to hang out with these kids and they're all asleep in bed! Well, there's always things to be cleaned or readied, so we did some busy work before heading to bed.
Our little man who slept the whole previous evening and through the night woke up, wide open at 6am Thursday morning. Bill got up with him 1st and started the coffee. Zhenya is the cutest 9yo boy and he has no comprehension that we do not speak Russian. He and Bill had about an hour "conversation" before I got up and they really bonded. Soon we were all up, the Wii was up and going, and an amazing gentleman named Chuck came in to cook breakfast. He drove all the way from Virginia to volunteer at Bridgestone. He made from scratch pancakes and they were amazing!

Zhenya

Yulya

Ruslan

Katya

Karina

Hope & Tanya

Hope & Vova

Hayden & Nastya

Danil

Group arriving in Atlanta.

Spending this time at Bridgestone again has only solidified for Bill and I that this is what God is calling us to do. We know He has plans for us in the mission field, working with orphans, but not sure what that will look like. It may just be to continue volunteering at Bridgestone, it may be committing to something more permanent than that, or even going over seas and into the mission field. Please pray that whenever God says "Who will I send?" that Me, Bill, and the girls are ready to answer "Send us Lord!"